What is a UUPG?

South Asia is home to such sites of interest as the architectural wonder of the Taj Mahal and the natural beauty of the tropical Maldives islands. However, South Asia also has the greatest concentration of lostness on earth. Seven countries make up South Asia: India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

These seven countries contain more unengaged unreached people groups (UUPGs) than all other regions of the world combined. In fact, three-fourths of all the world’s UUPGs are in South Asia. People group researchers have documented about 345 UUPGs with a population of more than 100,000.

A UUPG is classified as a people group with less than 2 percent Christian population and no evangelical work among them. This means that most of these people have never had any exposure to the Gospel and even now have no one working among them to bring them the Good News. Southern Baptists are putting special emphasis on reaching these people groups in South Asia with the Gospel.

Of the approximately 345 people groups, 325 are located in India. In addition, India has at least another 181 UUPGs with populations fewer than 100,000. The combined population of all these people groups is 419 million who have never had any access to the Gospel -- almost 120 million more people than inhabit the United States.

The region’s UUPGs consist of people groups from a variety of religions. The majority of the 345 UUPGs are Hindu (169 groups with a combined population of 197 million), but some people groups also follow Islam (71 groups with a combined population of 133 million). Followers of Buddhism, Sikhism, animism and Jainism comprise the remaining people groups (91 groups combined with a combined population of 62 million).

Helpful defintions

What is a People Group? It is a grouping together of people with similar linguistic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

What is an Unreached People Group (UPG)? An unreached people group is a people group in which less than 2% of the population are Evangelical Christians.

What is an Unengaged Unreached People Group (UUPG)? These are unreached people groups with no known known organization trying to reach them and no indigenous reproducing Church.  In South Asia we refer to these as the “Ends of the Earth”.